


guaranteed to raise a smile

by oakleaf_bearer



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Singles Night, a massive overuse of beatles references, this is legit one of the weirdest premises ive ever written for a fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29431200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oakleaf_bearer/pseuds/oakleaf_bearer
Summary: "I'll pay for drinks.""It's still no.""Even if I offer to cover your paperwork for a week?""Absolutely not.""A month?" Tim dragged his chair closer to Jon's, wheels squeaking. "Sasha can't go and I can't do this alone.""Why not?"Tim rolled his eyes. "It's a singles night the day before Valentine's Day, there's going to be loads of people. I can't talk to everyone."-im soft for jontims precanon relationship, okay?
Relationships: Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist/Tim Stoker
Comments: 15
Kudos: 120
Collections: All of the Fluff! - TMA Edition





	guaranteed to raise a smile

"Jon, come on, it'll be fun."

"Tim." Jon sighed. "I see no conceivable way that this could be considered 'fun'."

"I'll pay for drinks."

"It's still no." 

"Even if I offer to cover your paperwork for a week?"

"Absolutely not."

"A month?" Tim dragged his chair closer to Jon's, wheels squeaking. "Sasha can't go and I can't do this alone." 

"Why not?" 

Tim rolled his eyes. "It's a singles night the day before Valentine's Day, there's going to be loads of people. I can't talk to everyone."

Jon crossed his arms. "Surely the fact that it's a singles night will lend more believability to your cover story if you go alone?" 

"Yeah, but that's more boring. Please?" Tim pulled his puppy dog face at him. "I promise it will be fun." 

Jon took a deep breath. "Fine. But you're paying for the first round of drinks." 

Tim laughed. "Understood." 

The club was on a dingy side street, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Jon looked up at the sign above the door, faded and peeling from years of disrepair. 

A small piece of paper was taped to the door, revealing the name of the evenings festivities. 

Jon rolled his eyes. "Lonely Hearts Club?" 

"What, not a fan of the Beatles?" 

"It's cliche."

"Sure sure. Come on, Sergeant Pepper, let's find you love." 

"Let's research a potentially dangerous organisation that has traumatised at least one person. I might remind you that they described this place as 'soul-crushing' and that they said that they had never felt so alone." 

"Oh wow, what happened to 'this is ridiculous, this statement giver is clearly making this up. And soul crushing seems like an overstatement. I mean, what could really be so bad?" Tim laughed as he pulled Jon further into the room by his elbow. They passed a few people who were chattering away making mindless conversation. A couple of them sent Tim appreciative glances that Jon was frustratedly inclined to agree with. He'd donned a nice blue shirt, one that showed off his shoulders and forearms nicely as he rolled the sleeves up, and his hair was charmingly ruffled. 

They approached the bar and Tim ordered them some drinks, something non-alcoholic (Jon had been insistent on this in the taxi on the way from Tim's flat. They were working, getting drunk would be counterproductive to the evenings endeavours) and cheap enough that they wouldn't be blowing all of their meagre budget for the evening on terrible drinks. 

The bartender handed him two stickers and Tim scribbled something down on one, peeled the back off, and slapped it onto Jon's chest. 

"There you are."

"Joy of joys." Jon tugged at his blazer to angle the sticker in a way that he could read it. Tim had written a barely passable imitation of Jon's name. "Remind me how long we have to stay?"

"You were the one who said we had to be thorough. Mingle, talk to people. Who knows, you might have fun."

"Unlikely."

Tim waved him off and vanished into the crowd. 

Jon set himself up on a table, certain that Tim would find him before to long and bully him into mingling. One glance at the crowd told Jon that that would unpleasant. Everyone looked painfully bored. The few people who had paired up to try and hold conversations seemed to be considering bolting. Whoever had put together the music had for some reason settled on a bizarrely sad playlist, the songs There wasn't a single smile on anyone's face. 

"Hi!" A woman's voice startled him out of his thoughts. She was awkwardly stood next to the table, a polite smile on her ultimately forgettable face. 

"Hello." Jon internally grimaced at his own harsh tone. 

"I'm Eleanor." She held out a hand. He shook it. 

"Jon." He gestured for her to sit. 

"What do you do?"

"I'm a researcher."

"Ooh." She sounded politely intrigued despite his vague answer. "How fascinating." 

"Quite. What about you?" 

"I'm a writer. Well, I want to be a writer. Still looking for a publisher."

"Ah, so you've already written a book?"

She nodded, curls bouncing. "Took me years to write."

"Right." Jon knew he was supposed to ask about it, but he couldn't think of anything beyond "What is it about?"

"Oh, you know. Just a suburban street and all the people on it. An anthology of sorts."

"Hmm."

Eleanor smiled thinly. "You don't have to pretend that it sounds interesting. Truth be told, no one I've told about it thinks it's any good."

"I'm sure it is," Jon lied. 

"You don't have to be polite about it. It's a terrible concept, I know."

"No, I'm sure-" Jon felt a little lost. Tim would likely laugh to find out how quickly he had failed at a single conversation. "I mean, it sounds-"

"Jon," Sweet, blessed mercy, Tim was approaching their small table, a young woman following behind him. "This is Sadie." 

He shook the hand that was offered to him, grateful he wasn't having to bumble through another awkward apology to Eleanor. "Nice to meet you."

"She's majoring in medicine." 

"Fascinating." 

Tim gave him a look and gestured to Eleanor with his head. 

"Oh, Eleanor, this is Tim. We work together. Eleanor has written a book, Tim." 

"Oh, fun." 

"Thank you." 

Sadie chimed in to ask what it was about and Eleanor offered the same vague dismissive response as before, and the conversation carried on, with Jon clenching his fist every time he was expected to answer a question. 

A short while later both of the women had wandered off, and Jon felt slightly proud that he'd managed to force his way through a conversation so stunted not even Tim could salvage it. He hadn't had a drink thrown at him, and he counted that as a win. 

Tim leant over to bump their shoulders together. "Going my way?" 

"I hate you." 

Tim laughed. It was light and airy and completely out of place next to Jon's dour demeanour. "You're telling me you haven't had a single decent conversation tonight?"

"Have you?" 

"Well, no, but the nights still young." 

"It's almost midnight."

Tim slung his arm around Jon's shoulders. "That's young by some people's standards, Jonny boy." 

Jon rolled his eyes. How Tim could enjoy a night of meaningless chatter with strangers, learning superficial facts without making any real connections was beyond him. 

"Can we go?" 

"Anyone you've found interesting?"

"Not particularly." Jon sighed. "You've been the best conversation by far."

"Ouch."

"It was a compliment." 

Tim gave him an odd look. "Huh."

"What?" Jon frowned. 

"Nothing. Come on, I don't think we'll get anything more out of this place. Can I walk you home?" 

Jon shrugged, shoving back from the table. "Sure. Why not."

The February air was frigid around them, forcing Jon to gravitate towards Tim's body heat lest he freeze to death. If Tim minded, he didn't let on, simply chuckling and looping his arm around the crook of Jon's elbow to keep him close. 

"Look at us." Tim said, voice light with laughter. "Leaving a singles night with the same person we arrived with." 

"People will talk." Jon muttered, trying to match Tim's tone. 

It seemed to be successful. Tim grinned and pulled him closer. "Thank you for coming with me."

"I'd say any time, but that would be a lie."

"Nothing quite like a singles night to remind you how alone you are." Tim slowed as they approached Jon's building, taking his time. 

He stopped on the doorstep of Jon's block of flats. "I guess I'll see you at work." 

"I suppose so. Goodnight, Tim."

"Wait, one last thing." Tim put a hand on Jon's arm to stop him leaving. 

"Hmm?" 

"What time is it?"

Jon glanced down at his watch. "00:06. Why?"

"Ha. Fancy that."

"Tim?"

Tim reached out and looped a hand around the back of Jon's neck, tilting his face up towards him. Gently, he tugged him closer and pressed a small kiss to Jon's temple before pulling away, taking a step back. "Happy Valentine's Day, Jon."

"Oh." Before Jon could think of anything more intelligent to say, Tim was gone, setting off down the street with a spring in his step. As he vanished into the distance, Jon could swear he could hear him whistling a cheerful, jaunty tune. 

Jon shook his head fondly and went inside, trying to ignore the faint phantom feeling of lips brushing against his temple. 

Tim was a conundrum Jon would never quite solve, and for once, that didn't bother him. 

**Author's Note:**

> yes this is a singles night run by the lonely, it has a fully written out lore in a document that no one will ever see called 'juicy fic lore for sexy singles in your area' 
> 
> theres at least 5 beatles references in this fic, probably more, i lost count
> 
> title is from sergeant peppers lonely hearts club band by the beatles
> 
> come find me on [insta,](https://www.instagram.com/statement_boo_gins/) [twitter,](https://twitter.com/oakleaf_bearer) or [tumblr](https://oakleaf--bearer.tumblr.com/)


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